Parties need to perform or desire to perform a simultaneous electronic file exchange in a variety of situations. For example, sometimes parties seek to exchange electronic files simultaneously in the course of negotiations, where no party wishes to be disadvantaged by providing their file (and the information therein) before another party. As a further example, sometimes parties seek to exchange electronic files simultaneously with one another when the exchange is compelled by an authority, such as a judge. As a further example, sometimes two parties seek to exchange electronic files simultaneously when each party wants information from the other party, but no party is willing to provide their file first (e.g., due to doubts that the other party will provide their file, due to fear that the other party will alter their file if they have the opportunity to incorporate information garnered from the file they receive, etc.).
However, attempting a simultaneous exchange of electronic files using prior systems and methods brings about risks of both undesirable outcomes and inefficiencies.
For example, using email, parties can agree ahead of time to disclose their files to one another by sending emails containing the files to be exchanged to one another at a certain agreed time (e.g., 7:00 pm on a certain day). Likewise, as a further example, using a shared network service (e.g., Dropbox, Google Drive, an ftp site, etc.), parties can agree ahead of time to disclose their files to one another by both providing the files to be exchanged to the shared network service at a certain agreed time (e.g., 7:00 pm on a certain day).
When using email, shared network services, and other prior systems and methods to attempt a simultaneous file exchange, a party risks that they will provide their file at the agreed time, and the other party will not provide their file. In such a situation the disclosing party is disadvantaged in that they provided their file (and the information contained therein) and received nothing in return. Moreover, the disclosing party may feel taken advantage of because they expected the non-disclosing party to have provided their file at the agreed time. Such sentiments may exist regardless of the intention of the non-disclosing party.
When using email, shared network service, and other prior art systems and methods to attempt a simultaneous file exchange, a party also risks that they will provide their file at the agreed time, only to find that the other party provides their file at a later time. In such a situation the first-disclosing party is disadvantaged if the second-disclosing party created or modified the file that they sent to the first-disclosing party with knowledge from the file provided by the first-disclosing party. The first-disclosing party's awareness of the possibility of the second-disclosing party creating or modifying the file that they sent to the first-disclosing party with knowledge from the file provided by the first-disclosing party can lead the first-disclosing party to feel taken advantage of. Moreover, the first disclosing party may feel taken advantage of because they expected the second-disclosing party to have provided their file at the agreed time. Such sentiments may exist regardless of the intention of the second-disclosing party.
When a simultaneous file exchange is attempted using prior art systems and methods the risk that one party will disclose their file and the other will not, as well as the risk that one party will disclose their file after the other, is enhanced by the extent to which human involvement is required in the process of providing files at the time the parties have agreed. For example, where a human needs to perform the action of sending an email or providing a file to a shared network service at an agreed upon time, forgetfulness, emergency situations, or physical inaccessibility to a computer or a network connection may lead the person to fail to provide their file at the agreed time. Furthermore, humans can misremember times or fail to understand the time that an agreed simultaneous exchange was to take place. Moreover, humans are prone to bungle time conversions, such as time zone conversions, daylight savings time conversions, conversions between twenty-four hour notation and AM/PM notations, etc. which can throw off the timing of what was to be a simultaneous file exchange. Moreover, humans can misread clocks, use misaligned clocks, use broken clocks, etc. which can also throw off the timing of what was to be a simultaneous file exchange.
Another risk taken by a party when they use email, shared network service, and other prior art systems and methods to attempt a simultaneous file exchange is that the party will provide their file to the other party, where the file they provide contains the type of information the other party expects, but the file received from the other party will not contain the type of information the party expects. For example, in a litigation where two parties are to exchange expert reports, and email is employed to attempt a simultaneous exchange of the expert reports, where one party correctly attaches their expert report file to an email they send at the agreed time there is a risk to that party that the other party will send a file that is not the other party's expert report in their email (e.g., the other party sends a file in their email that is an image of the property that is the subject of the parties' dispute instead of the expert report, the other party sends a blank file instead of the expert report, etc.). As a further example, when two parties in a negotiation arrange for a simultaneous file exchange through a shared network service to swap settlement offers using prior systems and methods, there is a risk that one party will provide a file with the expected information on a settlement number (e.g., a dollar amount) to the shared network service and the other party will provide a file that does not contain expected information on a settlement number (e.g., instead the other party provides an explanation why that party cannot give a dollar amount as a settlement number at this time) to the shared network service. As a further example, when two parties agree to provide copies of a signature page of a contract to one another to an ftp site, where one party provides a file with a scanned copy of a signed signature page as expected, there is a risk to that party that the other party will provide a scanned copy of an unsigned signature page.
Using existing systems and methods in an attempt to achieve a simultaneous file exchange requires the parties to determine an agreed time in the future for the simultaneous file exchange to occur. This is because in order for the exchange to be simultaneous, it cannot be that one party will simply make their file available as the signal to the other party that it is time for the exchange—the very provision of the file from the first-disclosing party before the provision of the file by the second-disclosing party causes the exchange to not be simultaneous.
Existing systems and methods that allow users to set the time when an email will be sent to another party in the future (or otherwise allow for a file to be provided to another party at a time in the future) fall short of resolving the risks of both undesirable outcomes and inefficiencies explained above. This is because systems and methods for arranging for an email to be sent at certain time in the future does nothing to ensure that another party provides their file to you at the same time you provide your file to them.
Moreover, in some situations parties wish to exchange electronic files with one another simultaneously only when the information within their respective files share a certain relationship. This may be determined when the content of the files are considered together. For example, where a seller of an item and a potential buyer of the item wish to simultaneously exchange files containing information on the price each will sell or buy the item for, one or more of the buyer or seller may wish for the simultaneous file exchange to occur only when the prices each provides are within a certain dollar amount of one another. Prior art systems and methods fall short of providing such functionality. Prior art systems also fall short of allowing one or more of the parties to set the criteria upon which it is determined whether the simultaneous file exchange will occur (e.g., the dollar amount of the allowable spread between the prices contained in the files). As a result, with prior art systems parties do not have control over the conditions upon which their files are exchanged with one another by taking into account the values within the content of the files.
Moreover, in some situations it is advantageous that the parties simultaneously exchange files, and not simply exchange electronic information. This could be, for example, the added utility that may come with the ability to more easily manipulate files (e.g., the ability to save, copy, print, encrypt, etc. files). This could also be, for example, the added utility that comes with having access to metadata that is part of the files.
For these reasons and others, there is a need for systems and methods directed to the simultaneous exchange of electronic files or electronic information.